Ubuntu linux installs its own boot loader (grub i think it is called) so if you want to use Ubuntu only then you don't need rEFInd. The boot loader can recognize Mac OS X and will show it in the list if it exists, but it seems to not be able to launch it.

Where I work we use only Linux (open source) software, for a matter of security, and trust. Closed operating systems are not welcome.
For my personal use I use OSX, but for work we need machines with ubuntu (or debian, fedora).
I really like ubuntu for hpc and developing. Actually we buy dell PCs, but we like apple hardware (quality, components, beautiful laptops), so we are looking how to get apple instead of dell, just that.
My colleagues would never, ever trust an apple operating system.

Ubuntu linux installs its own boot loader (grub i think it is called) so if you want to use Ubuntu only then you don't need rEFInd. The boot loader can recognize Mac OS X and will show it in the list if it exists, but it seems to not be able to launch it.

It isn't; neither one is "real" Unix (whatever that is), not that it matters.

OP: I'm running 14.04 as the only OS on my 2011 MBP and it works perfectly out of the box. Just install it as normal if you don't need or want OS X. Dual booting may be trickier; I have never tried it. You may wish to install TLP for better power management. I can get about 8.5 hours of battery life with the screen at minimum brightness and the keyboard backlight off or very low. Stock Ubuntu power management is not as good.

Otherwise, the wifi is supported, the Intel HD3000 graphics work fine (NVIDIA drivers are available), keyboard brightness and volume keys work, and Trim is supported out of the box if you have an SSD. The much maligned Amazon search thing in the Dash is still present, but can be removed or disabled without trouble.

14.04 seems like it will be the last LTS release without systemd, so that could be benefit or a drawback depending on where you stand on that issue.

Overall, it's a good OS that supports this particular hardware very well. I'm not much of a Linux fan, but I am pleased with it.

It isn't; neither one is "real" Unix (whatever that is), not that it matters.

OP: I'm running 14.04 as the only OS on my 2011 MBP and it works perfectly out of the box. Just install it as normal if you don't need or want OS X. Dual booting may be trickier; I have never tried it. You may wish to install TLP for better power management. I can get about 8.5 hours of battery life with the screen at minimum brightness and the keyboard backlight off or very low. Stock Ubuntu power management is not as good.

Otherwise, the wifi is supported, the Intel HD3000 graphics work fine (NVIDIA drivers are available), keyboard brightness and volume keys work, and Trim is supported out of the box if you have an SSD. The much maligned Amazon search thing in the Dash is still present, but can be removed or disabled without trouble.

14.04 seems like it will be the last LTS release without systemd, so that could be benefit or a drawback depending on where you stand on that issue.

Overall, it's a good OS that supports this particular hardware very well. I'm not much of a Linux fan, but I am pleased with it.

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Exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, any thoughts about a retina MBP?

Regardless, I'd still recommend keeping an OS X partition for firmware/EFI/BootROM updates. Those can only be done through OS X. The partition can be super small.

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I don't really care that much, but my colleagues here don't use google, dropbox or any non-snowden approved service. (They work in crypto, that could be an answer)

Anyway, you can't trust any company to make the "crypto" for you. I use apple, but I don't trust them, I don't like how they have been forcing you more and more with social network integration and iCloud services.

Exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, any thoughts about a retina MBP?

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Intel graphics should be supported with no configuration. If it has an NVIDIA GPU, you'll likely have to install their proprietary drivers to get full acceleration. This is pretty simple to do, and just involves adding the NVIDIA PPA and then installing the driver.

I'm not sure what chipset the internal wifi card uses in the newer Retina MBPs. Broadcom devices are iffy on Linux and BSD, but the one in my MBP (a BCM4331) works fine with Ubuntu. On Arch Linux and Fedora, I had to manually extract the firmware from their prorietary driver, but this is a lot easier than it sounds. That would be the worst case scenario. It will probably work fine without having to do this though.

Bluetooth, the multi touch trackpad, internal mic and camera, and everything else I can think of work out of the box on mine. I don't see why they wouldn't work on a Retina. The hardware shouldn't be that different.

Anyway, you can't trust any company to make the "crypto" for you. I use apple, but I don't trust them, I don't like how they have been forcing you more and more with social network integration and iCloud services.

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Some companies are more trustworthy than others. Those that have a financial motivation to snoop on their users would rank towards the top of the creepiness index.

Well... OSX has a lot of built-in free, open-source software like Apache, Python, PHP, OpenSSH, etc. Currently, the only reason why we need Unix/POSIX compliance is to be able to compile and install open-source applications. So I don't know why most Linux distributions (like Debian) would need some kind of Unix certification since they can run practically everything developed by the GPL/Apache/BSD community.

Just have Ubuntu as the startup volume with OS X as a secondary partition. OP wants to use Ubuntu and Ubuntu only without OS X which is perfectly fine and will work, I have done it before. I kept OS X though for EFI updates and for emergency ****...

I think that Ubuntu will be a bit weird with the Retina display and you may have to use a downscaler or something otherwise you're eyes will bleed because text is so small...

I wouldn't use a virtual machine because this is not what you wanted and this is still in essence running OS X.

To install, create a bootable USB. At boot hold option then select the USB to boot from. Partition (or wipe if you really want to) the drive, creating two partitions, one for OS X and one for Ubuntu. Ubuntu can go on the larger side whereas OS X could live on like 20GB (I would say that as a minimum so that you have enough space for updates). Then install Ubuntu on the larger partition and there ya go!

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